Decisions

This report seeks approval to proceed with land and property transactions and their terms as detailed therein.

1.       The Cabinet Member for City Assets and Housing in consultation with the Director of City Assets and Housing approved the completion of the following transactions:

a.       Low Hill Offices – Variation to Heads of Terms for new lease to Wolverhampton Homes.

b.       Epic Café, 11-15 Lichfield Street – Settlement of dilapidations claim at void property.

c.       10 King Street, City Centre - Settlement of dilapidations claim at void property.

2.   The Cabinet Member for Resources in consultation with the Director of Finance:

3.   Approved the transfer from the Budget Contingency Reserve to meet the dilapidations claim in respect of Epic Café, 11-15 Lichfield Street.

This report seeks approval to proceed with land and property transactions and their terms as detailed.

Approved the completion of the transactions listed below:

a.       Land off Stafford Road, Coven Heath - Acquisition of land and easement.

b.       Former Laundry Room, Hobgate Road – License for occupation.

c.        Hawkswell Open Space - Grant of license for works and deed of easement.

d.       Wolverhampton Football Academy Centre of Excellence, Aldersley Road - Grant of legal charge over asset.

e.       Bilston Town Hall, Church Street - Surrender of Wolverhampton Homes lease to enable regrant of new lease to Wolverhampton Homes.

f.         Land rear of 31 Foley Avenue, Tettenhall – Minor disposal.

That in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business as they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).

To consider the Grand Theatre Expansion Plans.

1. That the updated Joint Dementia Strategy 2019 – 2024 for Wolverhampton be approved.

2. That the topic specific Joint Strategic Needs Assessment for Dementia in Wolverhampton be approved.

3. That it be noted that an action plan has been developed to accompany the Strategy document which will be monitored by the Better Care Fund Dementia workstream group.

1. That the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Arrangements for children, as approved by the Wolverhampton Safeguarding Children’s Board, be endorsed to ensure compliance with the Social Work Act 2017 and subsequent guidance set out in Working Together 2018.

2. That the application of the outlined proposals for the Wolverhampton Safeguarding Children’s Board to be applied to the Wolverhampton Safeguarding Adult’s Board be endorsed, to ensure the continued integration of the arrangements going forward.

3. That it be agreed that City of Wolverhampton Council, as a statutory safeguarding partner in both arrangements, participate within the Wolverhampton Safeguarding Together arrangements, as set out in Appendix 1 to this report.

4. That it be noted that the new arrangements for children were published on 28 June 2019 in line with statutory requirements and will take affect from 30 September 2019.

1. That the delivery of the City Learning Quarter project, in line with the business case and funding strategy, be approved.

2. That funds of up to £4 million be approved to progress the design and fund the continued development of the project, to be repaid once additional grants have been secured.

3. That it be approved for City of Wolverhampton Council to lead on both the City Learning Quarter and Wellington Road BCLEP bids (on behalf of City of Wolverhampton College) to deliver a comprehensive programme.

4. That it be approved that supplementary budgets are established for the Wellington Road project, subject to funding.

1. That the draft budget strategy linked to the Five Year Financial Strategy, including the budget reduction and income generation targets, be approved for inclusion in the Draft Budget and Medium Term Financial Strategy 2020-2021 to 2023-2024, to be reported to Cabinet in October 2019.

2. That it be approved that work continue between August and October 2019 to further develop the budget reduction and income generation proposals identified in this report, in order to ensure that a balanced budget can be set for 2020-2021.

3. That it be approved that progress on the development of budget reduction and income generation proposals be reported to Cabinet in October 2019 for approval to proceed to the formal consultation stage of the budget process.

4. That it be approved that further options are explored between August and October 2019 to address the updated projected budget deficit of £4.9 million for 2020-2021 based on the Council’s Five Year Financial Strategy.

5. That it be noted that, a number of assumptions have been made with regards to the level of resources that will be available to the Council as detailed in section 5 of this report. It is important to note that there continues to be a considerable amount of uncertainty with regards to future income streams for local authorities over the forthcoming Comprehensive Spending Review period. At the point that further information is known it will be incorporated into future reports to Councillors. Any reduction in the Government’s allocation of funding to the Council would have a significant detrimental impact and further increase the budget deficit forecast over the medium term.

6. That it be noted that, due to external factors, budget assumptions remain subject to significant change, which could, therefore, result in alterations to the financial position facing the Council.

7. That it be noted that an element of the high-level strategy for 2020-2021 relate to one-off opportunities that can be achieved in 2020-2021.

8. That it be noted that the updated projected deficit assumes the achievement of budget reduction and income generation proposals amounting to £9.6 million over period 2019-2020 to 2023- 2024.

9. That it be noted that the 2020-2021 budget timetable will, as in previous years, include an updated report presented to Cabinet in October 2019 detailing budget reduction and income generation proposals that will be subject to formal budget consultation during October to December 2019. Further to this, an update on all budget assumptions and the Provisional Local Government Settlement will be presented to Cabinet by January 2020, with the final budget report due to be approved by Full Council in March 2020.

10. That it be noted that the overall level of risk associated with the 2019-2020 Budget and Medium Term Financial Strategy 2019-2020 to 2023-2024 is assessed as Red.